In 2011 we reviewed (See options #1 and #2 there) the more convenient grocery shopping options offered by Meijer (then called "Grocery Express") at their Westerville store and The Hills Market (Home Delivery Service) which is still available. Meijer has since changed the name of their Grocery Express service to "Curbside" and no longer offers it in Columbus at any stores. Interestingly, Meijer now has a "Shipt" service that appears to rival the home delivery service offered by The Hills Market (I guess they read our blog post). We will have to test out Shipt soon.

We recently did a test of Kroger's "Clicklist" service. This is basically the same as Meijer's old "Grocery Express" and new "Curbside" service. Here is how Clicklist went:

Description: With this service, you go online and pick out the groceries you need (normal online shopping here), pick a one hour window when you can pick them up at the store. When you arrive in your one hour window, there are designated Clicklist parking spots. In front of the parking spots there are signs with a phone number. You call the number and tell them your name. A few minutes later, a Kroger employee brings the groceries out to your car and places them in your trunk. The items are bagged and placed in one of 2 color coded bins (cooled and non-cooled bins).

Cost: First 3 are free, $5 for each trip after that.

Conclusion: The Kroger online store is EXCELLENT! Not only is it nicely arranged and easy to use (many websites, even in 2017, are bad) but if you utilize a Kroger card, it knows what you bought during previous shopping trips and throws those things on the main page for easy re-selection! I spent about 20 minutes during my initial online shopping trip (mostly browsing) but this will take probably half this time next time.

I came to the store half way through my 1 hour window. From the time I parked to the time I drove away was 14 minutes. If the items you selected are not available, they substitute at no additional charge. If there is no substitute, well, you don't get that item. They provide you a print-out summarizing the changes (both substitutions and which items were not available).

This service (and likely a much better version) is the future. Picture an Amazon warehouse with robots picking your groceries off racks and loading them into a bin which is hand delivered to your car. Unless you need groceries urgently, you should never go in the grocery store again (by using Clicklist of course). Happy grocery shopping!